Ideology: An Introduction‘His thought is redneck, yours is doctrinal and mine is deliciously supple.’ Ideology has never been so much in evidence as a fact and so little understood as a concept as it is today. From the left it can often be seen as the exclusive property of ruling classes, and from the right as an arid and totalizing exception to their own common sense. For some, the concept now seems too ubiquitous to be meaningful; for others, too cohesive for a world of infinite difference. Here, in a book written for both newcomers to the topic and those already familiar with the debate, Terry Eagleton unravels the many different definitions of ideology, and explores the concept’s tortuous history from the Enlightenment to postmodernism. Ideology provides lucid interpretations of the thought of key Marxist thinkers and of others such as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud and the various poststructuralists. As well as clarifying a notoriously confused topic, this new work by one of our most important contemporary critics is a controversial political intervention into current theoretical debates. It will be essential reading for students and teachers of literature and politics. |
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activity Adorno Althusser Althusser's argues become beliefs bourgeois capitalism claim class consciousness commodity fetishism concept of ideology contradictions critique culture desires doctrine dominant ideology economic effect fact false consciousness force Frankfurt School Freud function Georg Lukács German Ideology Gramsci Habermas hegemony Hindess and Hirst historical human subjects ideas ideological discourse illusion Jürgen Habermas kind knowledge labour language legitimate lived logic London Louis Althusser Lukács Lukács's Marx and Engels Marx's Marxism material matter meaning metaphysical myth nature Nietzsche objective one's oppressed particular philosopher political post-Marxism practical production proletariat question radical rational reason reification relations revolutionary rhetorical Richard Rorty ruling class semiotic sense signifier simply situation Slavoj Žižek social interests social order social reality socialist socially determined speak specific structure superstructure term ideology Theodor Adorno theoretical theorists theory of ideology things thought tion true truth unconscious Western Marxism whole women words world view